Six of these challenges have now been approved by the court, allowing the applicants to formally pursue legal action.

The challenges approved relate to the questionable adequacy of the Government of Canada’s consultation with Indigenous peoples and First Nations between the court’s decision in August that the Canada failed to address concerns raised by First Nations and the Governor in Council’s approval in June 2019.

Following the August decision, the court required that First Nations be provided with information on an Indigenous group’s strength of claim to provide a fair playing field for all parties and to understand when accommodations might be needed.

In the latest grant for approvals, the court has ordered that the challenges proceed on an expedited basis, setting short and strict deadlines for the litigation steps.

With a requirement for consultation to meet a threshold for a “fairly arguable case” that exceed the leeway given to the decision maker, arguments for the challenges must consider the “process, quality and conduct of consultation”.

The six applicants will be given leave to start applications for judicial review.

Update notice: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated that Trans Mountain received six approvals on this project. This is incorrect, six Indigenous and First Nations groups opposed to the pipeline received approval to pursue legal action.